1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns fishing reels for casting of the type with a fixed spool and a bail arm for winding on the fishing line.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fixed spool fishing reels comprise a spool mounted on a longitudinal shaft carried by a reel body and acted on by brake means opposing its rotation relative to the reel body. A bail arm drum is mounted to rotate about the spool shaft and is urged to rotate by a bail arm drive mechanism. The bail arm drum carries opposite first and second bail arms offset laterally towards the outside of the spool and extending towards the front. A bail arm bow comprises a first end fixed to a first bow base pivoting on the first arm and a second end fixed to a second bow base pivoting on the second arm. The bail arm bow and its two bow bases can pivot about a common transverse axis between a closed position in which the bail arm guides the fishing line to wind it around the spool and an open position in which the bail arm releases the fishing line.
In a first prior art reel design the bail arm bow is acted on by a return spring urging it from its open position to its closed position. Before making a cast, the angler pushes the bail arm manually against the return spring until it clicks into the open position. After the cast the click-action device is operated to release the bail arm which returns to the closed position due to the action of the return spring.
The drawback of this first design of reel lies in the fact that the angler must operate the bail arm deliberately between its closed position and its open position, a relatively large movement.
In a second prior art reel design, as described for example in the documents U.S. Pat. No. 2,966,314, U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,645 and FR-A-2 676 887, a spring urges the bail arm from its closed position towards its open position, the bail arm being normally held in the closed position by a click-action device which is released by manual actuation of the bail arm with a further movement in the closing direction. The bail arm is returned automatically from its open position to its closed position by a mechanical transmission loaded by the rotation force of the bail arm drum during the operation of recovering the line onto the spool.
The benefit of this second bail arm design is that, to return the bail arm from the closed position to the open position, before making a cast, the movement to be deliberately imparted by the angler to the bail arm is small, being that just necessary to unlock the click-action means. Also, the return movement of the bail arm from its open position to its closed position is effected automatically at the end of a cast, when the angler operates the fishing line recovery crank.
However, in this second prior art reel design when the bail arm is in the closed position unlocking can only be effected by manual actuation of the bail arm to move it further in the closing direction. This is an unnatural movement as it is in the opposite direction to the rotation required of the bail arm when it pivots from the closed position to the open position. Many anglers are used to employing a reel with the first prior art design in which the angler pushes the bail arm manually against a return spring from the closed position until it clicks in the open position. If the angler attempts to push the bail arm from its closed position to its open position in the second prior art design of reel, the locking means oppose such movement. This entails a risk of damaging the reel, either by deformation on the bail arm itself or by breakage of some parts of the mechanism.